Co-anglers are an interesting topic, one with no shortage of debates.
Yet, no matter how you view them, the fact remains that despite having no control over where or how they fish in a given day, some co-anglers are pretty darn consistent. To do that requires a unique skill set, which can translate over to an eventual career in the front of the boat.
Andy Montgomery, Stetson Blaylock, Justin Lucas, Micah Frazier, Kevin Hawk and Matt Arey are just a handful of Major-level pros who at one point in their careers fished from the back of the boat.
With that in mind, we wanted to take a look at some of the top co-anglers currently in our sport. Word is, you’ll be seeing a few of these names on the pro side in 2012.
The top spot in our Majors Co-Angler World Ranking current belongs to Anthony Hunt, who has impressively beaten 82.5 percent of the co-angler field the last two years. That’s up from last year, when he was 6th with a score of 780.498.
Three other co-anglers that have been learning some things in the back are Spencer Shuffield, Teddy Bradley and Brad Roberts. Shuffield moved from 10th with a 757.212 to 2nd with an 810.781 this year, while Bradley is right behind him in 3rd with an 804.965, a jump from 13th a year ago. Roberts made a similar move, going from 12th to 6th over the last year.
Then there are the Hults brothers, Alan, Chris and Matt. Alan was the No. 1-ranked co-angler a year ago with an amazing 894.662, but he’s now the lowest-ranked Hults as he sits in 11th. Meanwhile, both Chris and Matt, having been sporadic in their co-angler participation over the years, fished the entire FLW Tour this season. The result was Chris taking over the 5th spot with a 789.373 and Matt moving into 10th with a 761.874.
Last but not least is JR Wright. He’s been at this co-angler game since 2005, and over the course of his career has averaged a 797.603 in Major-level events. He currently resides in 8th with a 773.616 after holding the No. 2 spot a year ago. Regardless, considering the inconsistencies of being a co-angler, Wright and the others guys on this list have proven talent wins out and you can still be remarkably consistent in the back of the boat.